Lawmakers Press SSA Commissioner on Wait Times, Website Downtime and Failed Phone Contract

House and Ways and Means subcommittee members pressed Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Buscagnano on June 24 about customer service shortfalls and mismatched public metrics as the agency pursues a technology-driven modernization effort.

The hearing opened with members urging an “honest dialogue” about preserving benefits while improving service. Chairman Estes and other Republican members highlighted recent reductions in average hold times and the agency's move to expand online options. "The average speed of answering on the 800 number hit a high of 42 minutes in November of 2023. It was 16.7 minutes in April of 2025," Rep. Estes said during his opening remarks. Buscagnano said the agency is pursuing an “omnichannel” approach — field offices, phone and web — and pledged to cut scheduled website downtime that he said currently amounts to 18% of total weekly hours, roughly 29 hours.

Members from both parties pushed for specifics. Several Democrats and Republicans cited a recent Office of Inspector General audit that found SSA spent more than $160 million on a new phone system that was used for about 10 months before being abandoned. "A contract of that size and scale should never have that problem," Buscagnano told the panel, adding he meets weekly with senior financial and budget staff to improve procurement discipline and now meets regularly with the inspector general on recommendations.

Questions also focused on the agency's decision to remove some historical public performance measures from SSA's public dashboards. Commissioner Buscagnano said the agency continues to publish average answer-speed (ASA) metrics daily but removed a longest-wait-time figure because it discouraged callers who often can obtain a callback or have their issue resolved by automation. "If you show that you got an hour and a half wait time, people are gonna be discouraged to not call," he said, defending the change.

Republican leaders credited rapid implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act as an example of the agency using automation to process cases faster: the commissioner told the panel the agency had processed 99.9% of required retroactive payments, with about 3,100 payments remaining. Buscagnano said the agency had completed that work sooner than anticipated by applying technology and concentrated effort.

Members pressed for timetables. Buscagnano said the agency would address scheduled website downtime “in the next two months” and cited improvements in phone and field-office service as evidence that technology plus changes in work patterns can improve outcomes even with fewer staff in some areas. Several members signaled they will continue to request staffing and performance data from the agency to verify improvements.

Ending: Lawmakers and the commissioner agreed on the aim of faster, more reliable service but left several open questions: how public metrics will be restored or clarified, how the agency will prevent future contracting failures, and whether planned technology changes will reach rural, low‑bandwidth beneficiaries who rely on in-person or phone assistance.